Under The Influence
by GryfoTheGreat
Summary: And she's supposed to be the immature one. Fire Ferrets, rated T for alcohol.
1. booze cruise

**A/N: In most fics, Mako's the sober one. This time, Korra's taking responsibility.**

**Episode six is probably my favourite so far. SPIDERLINNNN**

**I own nothing.**

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Korra stamped down the cobbled street. Stupid alcoholic bending brothers! She'd turned her back for five freaking seconds to buy more of those candy things, and they'd sloped off to find a bar. A bar! The worst bit was that they'd taken _her_ money.

She had scoured almost every alley of the city, blagged her way into the exclusive jazz clubs and held her nose as she'd waded through speakeasies, and she'd gotten only one response;

_The Fire Ferrets? Yeah, I saw 'em about fifteen minutes ago, buying drinks for everyone. I think they headed north. Strange the Avatar wasn't with them, huh? Hey, wait, how do you know them? Are you the-_

That was her cue to leave, and she'd scurry out of the bar leaving 'thank-you!'s in her wake, and the poor drunk would shrug and return to his mug of beer.

She was going to kill them. They'd promised that this excursion wouldn't end in a puking session, that they wouldn't use her money for anything and finally, that they wouldn't ditch her. Korra had decided to stay tee-total for the time being, seeing as she destroyed things when she got drunk. Lin was okay some times, but she wasn't if it was two am and you'd just broken the statue of Fire Lord Zuko.

She glanced up, and saw the neon lights of the bar the last drunk had pointed her in the direction of blinking at her. It didn't look like either of the brothers' usual haunt, seeing as the place was more famous for its glittering young clientele rather than its cheap prices. As she was about to turn tail, Korra heard Bolin's unmistakeable voice booming through the building. The bastards were definitely in there.

She stomped towards the bar, furious, and walked straight past the bouncer, who was currently engaged with a woman in the corner.

It was easy to spot her teammates-both were bang in the middle of a knot of female admirers, swaying to the music playing through the rickety sound system. Mako's head poked a little bit above the crowd, and he seemed to be having a little trouble with prying all the girls off him so he could get to his drink; the other brother had no such problems, a girl in one hand and a mug in the other.

Waving her hand in front of her face to clear the air of smoke, she made her way through the thronged bar with only a little difficulty, managing to dodge most of the people trying to grab her ass or offer her a drink. Soon, Bolin was wobbling in front of her, being supported by the skimpily-dressed girl clinging to his arm.

"Hey, K-gal! Nice to see ya!" He burped. ""Do ya wanna drink?"

Korra leaned up, and snatched the alcohol he was holding aloft out of his hand. "No, Bo. I don't want a drink. What I want is to drag both of your sorry asses home _without_ creating a scene!" Okay, so maybe she was a being a little too angry, but she had actually had hopes of getting back to the island before midnight, hope that had been dashed for the last two hours.

"Ah, Korra, don't be a party pooper! Dance with us!" Flinging the floozie aside, he grabbed Korra and started to dance messily with her. With a practiced ease, she twisted his wrist, slipped him behind her and pulled him into a headlock. Bolin was easily the physically strongest out of the three, but booze ruined him.

"Home. Now. We have practice at seven!"

She felt a shadow fall on her, and glanced up. Mako was looming over her, looking confused. "No, we don't."

"Yes, we do. It was the only slot you could get since you decided to spend half an hour yelling at me about discipline when you should have been asking Toza for a timeslot!" Korra had fallen asleep during a formation run-through. It wasn't _her_ fault that she'd stayed up late practising with Tenzin the night before and that Mako's voice was so incredibly boring that it lulled her to sleep.

"Oh. I geddit." He pointed at the drink clutched in her hand. "Can I have that?"

"No more alcohol for _either _of you!" Once she was sure that she had secured Bolin, she grabbed Mako's ear and dragged him down, pulling him into a headlock. Strangely enough, he didn't seem to mind.

Groans of protest started to rise among the brothers' harem. "If they want to stay, let them!" "Yeah, don't ruin their fun, Avatar!"

Mako peeked up at her, eyes clouded. "I wanna shtay." The more alcohol Mako ingested, the thicker his accent got.

Bolin butted his head against her. "Come on, Korra! I'll pay for your drinks!" She dully noticed that his hand was slowly making its way towards her butt.

"With my money." Both brothers ceased their resistance at the tone of Korra's voice. She looked up and locked eyes with each girl. "Scram. And pull down your skirts!"

Within moments, Korra had a free path to the door, and she dragged them out. When the air hit her face, she released them both, and the brothers doubled over instantaneously to hurl.

She sighed, and waited. When the noises subsided, she grabbed both brothers again, and hauled them up on her back in a fireman's lift, sagging a little underneath their weight. Korra was strong, but Mako and Bolin were tall and muscled, nothing like lanky Tenzin and his light children.

"Korra, you suck." Mako wriggled a little.

"Lemme go! I can walk." Bolin thumped his hands against her back.

_No, you can't, _she thought_, _and simply ignored him.

After what felt like hours of enduring catcalls, sniggers and jeers from passer-by and random romantic duets being sung completely out of tune by the two idiots slung over her back, the glowing golden lights of the arena finally came into view. With a groan she let the brothers slide from her back, ignoring the _thud_ as they hit the cement, and stretched, cracking her knuckles and rolling her shoulders.

Bolin clawed his way up, using Korra to pull himself upwards. He staggered over to the railings, and hurled again. Mako lay there, catatonic, for a few more seconds, until he reached out towards Korra, who reluctantly obliged and yanked him to his feet.

"Can you make it from here?" she asked him.

Mako started to amble towards the arena, but quickly managed to trip over nothing. Behind her, Korra heard Bolin attempting to pick a fight with a bench.

She pinched her nose in a futile attempt to staunch her headache, and picked Mako up again.

Once she'd retrieved them both again, she started towards the arena. The stewards at the door let her pass without comment. Bolin's late-night excursions were known to everyone in the arena.

It was a challenge navigating the narrow staircase with two lumps, but she eventually managed to reach their loft. It wasn't the first time Korra had been inside the brothers' home, but the view still shocked her. She could just make out the craggy shape of Air Temple Island, and Aang's statue loomed over it like a guardian.

She was pulled out of her reverie by a snore. Bolin had collapsed on his bed, and was already fast asleep. Mako seemed to be intent on doing the same, but was having trouble remaining upright for more than five seconds. Taking pity on him, she grabbed his arm and guided him to his futon. _I wonder if Asami'd do this,_ she wondered.

A clang echoed throughout the room, and Korra glanced at the clock. It was three now, and by the time she got back to the island, it'd be half past that, meaning she'd have only three hours of sleep. Mako and Bolin wouldn't mind if she crashed on their couch-she'd done it before.

Safely wrapped in a worn blanket, Korra fell asleep with her eyes trained on the island.

That night, she dreamt of Aang dragging his friends home from a bar.

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**Because you know he must've had to do it.**

**Please, do review. **_**~Gryfo**_


	2. hangover

**A/N: I got bored and wrote a sequel. Hooray.**

**I probably ruined the Gaang's personalities, seeing as I only ever saw one episode of The Legend of Aang (which is its name in my country), and that was 'Tales from Ba Sing Se.'**

**I am incapable of writing either Fire Ferret ship without the other. **

**I do not own The Legend of Korra.**

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Mako is rudely awoken by the cheerful sound of jazz playing on the radio. This isn't a rare occurrence, seeing a Bolin needs music every morning, but the person attempting singing along definitely isn't his little brother. Whereas Bolin can hold a tune pretty well, the person singing sounds like a flying lemur being strangled.

His splitting headache is growing stronger by the minute, and he involuntarily lets out a groan of pain. He reaches blindly for the glass of water he knows is sitting beside his bed, and gulps it down. He puts it down, and it is instantly refilled, which he would usually find weird. Of course, right now he can barely see straight, so he drinks the water without comment, and topples back into his sheets.

Most of last night is a blur. Usually, this would be a good thing, except some of the unblurry bits include a very angry Korra. He hopes they didn't set anything on fire. He's been seeing Chief Bei Fong too much recently for his liking. There's a crash downstairs, and a string of curses reaches his ears. Mako decides to go practice some damage control.

Korra is barging around the kitchen failing to cook. She swivels around, and grins at him. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

He ignores her comment, and collapses onto the couch. "Why're you here?"

She lights the stove with a burst of fire. "We have training at seven, and we got back at three. I reckoned it wasn't worth going home."

He drops his heads into his hands. "Training. Forgot."

She laughs at him. "You got the time-slot, you train during the time slot." She glances at him, and he notices the bags underneath her eyes, and that her hair is unbound for once. "Now go for a shower. You look like shit."

He peeks at her between his fingers. "I could say the same to you."

"I already went. Seriously, go. No shower, no breakfast."

Groaning, he obliges.

By the time he's finished, Bolin is staggering blearily around the loft, and the smell of coffee permeates throughout the room. Bolin waves at him, and staggers into the bathroom. He ignores the retching noises. His little brother is, unfortunately, a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.

"Here." Korra plonks a plate of scrambled eggs and rice in front of him. Noticing his worried expression, she sighs, and cards her fingers through her hair. "Don't worry, I bought the stuff with my own money. Eat. You need your strength for training." She falls onto the couch beside him, and hands him a mug of black coffee. Mumbling a thanks, he slugs some down, and makes a start on the eggs.

Much to his surprise, it's actually edible; more than that, even. He swallows with difficultly, and smirks at her. "Not bad." He chuckles inwardly at the way she growls at him a little.

They spend the rest of the meal in a peaceable silence. Korra is much more agreeable in the mornings-she's too tired to fight with him, and he's usually in too much of a good mood to pay any attention to her barbs. He breaks the silence towards the end. "So, what'd we do last night?"

She rolls her eyes. "Well, you two managed to sneak off and go on a booze cruise with my money. I found you both smashed in a bar with a harem. I dragged your sorry asses home."

He leans back, food finished. "Sounds like a good night to me."

"Says you. I didn't get much sleep-I had a really freaky dream about Aang dragging his friends home form a bar. Sounds familiar, huh?" She drains the dregs of her coffee. "You guys are better drunks than them, though. Zuko set things on fire, Toph flirted with everything, Katara started crying, Suki got really giggly and Sokka sang." She makes a face, and Mako laughs at her a little.

Korra stands up and stretches, and starts to wander towards the bathroom. "You can go ahead to the gym if you want. I'll be down after you-just need to fix Bolin."

Grunting in assent, he stands up and starts to walk towards his bed. Suddenly, he stops, and turns around to look at her. She really does look tired, and there's a slump in her posture he's never seen before. Barefoot, missing her pelts and wolftail, she looks younger than he's ever seen her.

For once, Korra doesn't look like an Avatar.

He clears his throat awkwardly.

"Thank you. For making sure we were safe."

Korra stops abruptly, and looks back at him. She looks surprised for a moment; but then her mouth curves into a genuine smile and her eyes brighten a little. "Well, friends don't let other friends walk home drunk, or so I heard."

He snorts, and walks away.

He resolves to go a little easier on her during training, but that is soon forgotten when he finds that his scarf is missing.

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**Go ahead and review; it'd make my day! **_**~Gryfo**_


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